Flat Renovation in London

Published by Hampstead Renovations | November 2025

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Plan a flat renovation step by step

Guidance reviewed 13 September 2026 · Planning information for homeowners in England

Renovating a flat means planning your own rooms within a building shared with other people. Start with the tenure, the parts you control and the actual proposed work. This planner covers an individual flat; whole-block works or creating additional dwellings need their own assessment.

For delivery of the agreed project see flat refurbishment. A period conversion also has a distinct conversion-flat renovation guide. If the property is a whole house, use the house planning stages.

Where are you now?

Buying or exploring: establish the flat, lease and brief
Have a layout idea: find the actual consent route
Preparing tenders: include shared-building obligations
Work underway: check concealed interfaces and close-out records

Use the first stage with an unresolved decision. The sequence is a planning aid; approvals, procurement and site work can overlap only where your team confirms the dependencies. It is not a promised programme.

1. Define the flat, tenure and brief

Decide: What needs to change, and which walls, floors, risers or external elements does the proposal affect?
Prepare: Lease and plan, building information, flat type, floor/storey, measured rooms, occupation needs and access constraints.
Who confirms: Owner and design team; a solicitor or suitable lease adviser resolves ownership or lease uncertainty.
Depends on: Permission to access and investigate the flat, particularly before purchase.
Keep this output: A project brief with property boundaries and missing documents recorded.
Ready to move on when: The team can distinguish the flat’s internal works from changes affecting shared or retained property.

2. Find the actual consent route

Check the lease before assuming an alteration is allowed. Required landlord consent is separate from planning or building approval. A share of freehold does not, by itself, remove the flat’s lease obligations; ask the relevant adviser to confirm who can grant consent.

Decide: Which proposed alterations need permission and who is authorised to give it?
Prepare: Lease clauses, house rules, managing-agent contacts and a written description of the proposed work.
Who confirms: Owner, lease adviser and the authorised freeholder/managing agent; the contractor supplies relevant information.
Depends on: A clear scope and confirmation of affected retained/shared parts.
Keep this output: A dated consent questions list and building-specific application checklist.
Ready to move on when: The application route is confirmed in writing and outstanding consent is not treated as approval.

Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements.

3. Establish technical and statutory constraints

Have the design team assess structure, fire and acoustic separation, drainage, shared services and heritage implications. Householder permitted-development rights under Part 1 do not apply to flats or maisonettes; check the actual planning route instead.

For building control, screen the building definition and proposed work together. Height/storeys alone do not settle higher-risk-building status or the approval needed for the work. BSR guidance includes exemptions and rules for work forming part of a wider project. Your adviser must confirm applicability before affected works begin.

Decide: Which constraints can change the design and which statutory route applies?
Prepare: Building records, proposed layout, specialist investigations and information from building management.
Who confirms: Relevant competent designers and building-control professional; planning or heritage adviser where required.
Depends on: Enough building information to avoid guessing about structure, shared systems or classification.
Keep this output: A design constraints register and distinct approval entries for planning, listed-building consent, building control and landlord consent.
Ready to move on when: Critical constraints and the required approval route are understood before irreversible commitments.

Track each consent separately

Source: GOV.UK: householder permitted development; BSR: higher-risk building approval and exemptions; Historic England: listed-building consent.

4. Agree feasible scope before finishes

A bathroom that looks comfortable on a plan can still conflict with drainage routes or shared services. Compare keeping it in place with moving it; record what each option changes in approvals, investigations, cost uncertainty and maintenance. The same review applies to floor build-up and bespoke joinery around services.

Decide: Whether moving a wet room, changing floors or altering walls is feasible within the building’s constraints.
Prepare: Measured layout options, existing services, maintenance access, consent requirements and household priorities.
Who confirms: Owner, designer and relevant structural, acoustic and services specialists.
Depends on: Lease/retained-part questions and technical investigations that affect the options.
Keep this output: A feasible preferred layout with unresolved design questions marked.
Ready to move on when: The team can explain drainage, service access and affected separation for the chosen arrangement.

Bathroom renovation design and interfaces

5. Assemble the consent pack

Mark an application as submitted, queried or approved accurately. A request for more information is not permission to start. Track revised drawings in one place so the site team does not build an earlier version. Application fees and response periods must come from the actual managing agent, agreement or authority; there is no universal licence price or turnaround.

Decide: Which documents does this building require, and which drawings and conditions govern the work?
Prepare: Agreed scope, current drawings, requested technical reports, programme and contractor information where required.
Who confirms: Appointed advisers prepare their documents; the owner or agreed coordinator submits to the authorised decision-maker.
Depends on: A feasible proposal and the building-specific submission requirements.
Keep this output: A controlled document pack with revision/date, submission record and conditions tracker.
Ready to move on when: The required permissions are received and the team understands the conditions relevant to each work package.

6. Price the flat’s building obligations

Record carrying, lift bookings, surveys, common-part protection, inspections, temporary accommodation and potential licence close-out items separately. Use the actual rules instead of adding an unexplained London or mansion-block percentage. Ask each bidder to price the same protection and access assumptions.

Decide: Which costs arise from the work and which arise from carrying it out in this building?
Prepare: Tender scope, lift/access rules, protection, storage, waste movements, working restrictions and adviser/agent requirements.
Who confirms: Owner, cost adviser if appointed and the parties pricing their responsibilities.
Depends on: Enough logistics and consent information to make bidders’ assumptions comparable.
Keep this output: An itemised budget and tender schedule showing exclusions, provisional items and outstanding evidence.
Ready to move on when: The total includes known building obligations and household costs as well as room finishes.

7. Select the team and agree the contract

A contractor can coordinate construction but cannot grant statutory or landlord consent. Keep Building Regulations roles and CDM appointments clear even when the same person performs more than one role. Verify current insurance and references for the actual contracting entity.

Decide: Who will design, build, inspect, instruct changes and communicate with building management?
Prepare: Comparable bids, relevant project evidence, appointments and proposed contract documents.
Who confirms: Owner and advisers agree roles; each appointed party confirms its competence and scope.
Depends on: Known technical and logistics requirements, with remaining qualifications explicitly recorded.
Keep this output: Written appointments and a suitable contract with a clear instruction and payment process.
Ready to move on when: There is one understood route for decisions, including requests from the managing agent.

Set up responsibilities and change control

Source: BSR: design and building duties; HSE: domestic clients and CDM.

8. Agree access and start conditions

Confirm construction working windows from the actual building rules and relevant permissions. Business opening hours are not a construction-noise rule. A small flat may still need off-site storage or staged deliveries if common routes cannot hold materials.

Decide: How can people, materials and waste move without compromising the shared building?
Prepare: Lift dimensions/bookings, stairs and doorways, delivery restrictions, protection, emergency contacts and neighbour communications.
Who confirms: Contractor and building management coordinate the agreed arrangements; owner confirms access permissions.
Depends on: Required consents, pre-start conditions, appointments and a professionally planned site setup.
Keep this output: A building-specific access/protection plan with dated condition photographs and start conditions recorded.
Ready to move on when: The team has permission to start the affected work and the next delivery/work package can be accommodated.

Mansion-block refurbishment and logistics

9. Release procurement and first-fix decisions

Track client selections separately from technical approvals. A chosen finish does not confirm that an assembly fits, remains accessible or is compatible with the surrounding system. Record supplier lead-time information with the date and person who confirmed it.

Decide: What must be approved before manufacture, ordering or concealing services?
Prepare: Bathroom room sheets, lighting and electrical layout, exact bespoke joinery drawings/samples and supplier information.
Who confirms: Owner approves choices through the agreed process; designers and specialists confirm compatibility.
Depends on: Consented feasible layouts, measured information and a checked delivery/installation route.
Keep this output: A decision schedule tied to order release, manufacture, delivery and site readiness.
Ready to move on when: The current revision and cost/time effects are approved before irreversible commitment.

10. Inspect interfaces before concealment

Do not substitute a generic acoustic decibel target for the lease, design or applicable standard. Ask the acoustic adviser what evidence is appropriate for the affected floor, ceiling or wall. A product test is not automatically the performance of the completed flat.

Decide: Which details need specialist inspection, testing or records before they become inaccessible?
Prepare: Approved fire/acoustic details, service penetrations, waterproofing and relevant installation information.
Who confirms: Contractor and the relevant competent designer, inspector or specialist for the particular work.
Depends on: Current approved details and access for the inspection points agreed with the team.
Keep this output: Dated records of the relevant inspections, photographs, test evidence and approved changes.
Ready to move on when: Required checks are complete before the work is covered and outstanding issues have been resolved.

Plan acoustic floor and concealed-work decisions

Source: GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound.

11. Commission and close consent conditions

Keep practical completion, regulatory completion, licence close-out and commercial settlement as distinct entries. Follow the actual contract for payment and defects. Do not assume the contractor issues every certificate or that every flat requires the same set of documents.

Decide: Which systems and consent obligations are complete, and which outstanding items prevent the agreed close-out?
Prepare: Snag list, commissioning results, relevant certificates, drawings, manuals and licence conditions.
Who confirms: Owner, contractor, appointed advisers, relevant issuing specialists and building management where required.
Depends on: Completed installations, necessary inspections and agreed completion procedures.
Keep this output: A flat handover file with document issuer, received status and outstanding actions.
Ready to move on when: Systems are demonstrated and the required completion/consent evidence is received or its status clearly recorded.

Build the handover index

12. Restore common areas and plan maintenance

Check common areas against the agreed photographic record and record any unresolved damage or access issue. Keep service hatches accessible after furniture and belongings return. Store the approved drawings and consent documents with the flat’s property records.

Decide: What must be restored or returned, and how will future servicing and defects be managed?
Prepare: Pre-work condition record, protection/access plan, care guidance and agreed outstanding items.
Who confirms: Owner, contractor and building management agree relevant shared-area close-out; specialists explain maintenance.
Depends on: Completion of activities that still need common routes or temporary protection.
Keep this output: A close-out record, aftercare contacts and a practical maintenance schedule.
Ready to move on when: Shared routes are checked, access arrangements are returned and the owner knows how to report an issue.

Local service information for the building you own

These existing service pages provide local context for a commissioning discussion. Confirm the requirements of the actual building rather than applying a neighbouring flat’s arrangement.

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